Annual Conference and Exhibition

09:50Plenary 1

• Opening address from NHS Providers interim chief executive

  📍 Auditorium
  
  NHS Providers interim chief executive, Saffron Cordery, opens the conference reflecting on the achievements in the provider sector over the past year and looking at the priorities ahead.

   

  • Keynote speaker

10:20Plenary 2

• Setting up the NHS for future success: reflections on Darzi's diagnosis

  📍 Auditorium
  
  Following Lord Darzi's investigation findings, this session explores how the government and health and care leaders can work together to overcome current challenges and ensure the 10-year health plan strengthens the NHS for the future, enabling it can serve the next generation.  

  • Chair

  • Speaker

11:10 Exhibition, refreshments and networking (Exhibition Hall)

11:25Delivering with partners 1

• Building system resilience through on-demand healthcare infrastructure

  📍 Theatre A
  
  Explore how the NHS can leverage on-demand facilities and workforce solutions, such as Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) units, to relieve pressure across the urgent and emergency care pathway, particularly during peak winter demand. Our experts discuss how to create capacity that meets clinical, operational, and patient needs, and share insights into the factors driving operational success and resilience across the whole system.  

  (supported by Darwin Group)

• Boosting productivity, delivering financial, operational and clinical benefits while improving quality of care now and in the future

  📍 Theatre B
  
  Learn how procurement and supply chain strategies can secure value, productivity, and efficiency benefits in partnership with health and care systems. This session explores how these collaborative efforts contribute to improved patient outcomes and £1bn of recurrent value for the NHS. 

  (supported by NHS Supply Chain)

• Enabling productivity: achieving financial, operational, and clinical gains for lasting quality care

  📍 Theatre C
  
  Join us for an engaging presentation on the Managing Heart Failure @Home (MHF@Home) programme — a collaborative initiative between East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust, and Doccla.
  
  This programme has empowered heart failure patients through remote monitoring and personalised self-management, leading to significant improvements in mobility, self-care, and overall quality of life. Notably, it has achieved a complete reduction in 30-day readmissions and a 32% decrease in A&E visits for heart failure-related issues, demonstrating substantial healthcare savings.
  
  Discover how this proactive care model is transforming chronic disease management and alleviating pressures on healthcare services.
  

  (supported by Doccla)

12:10 Breakout sessions - Next generation leadership

• Improving staff retention: trust led initiatives on making the NHS an attractive place to work

  📍 Room 3A

  Discuss best practices in staff retention for diverse workforces in face of operational and financial pressures. Facilitators from trusts, including NHS People Promise Exemplars, lead this interactive discussion, providing insights into good practice and effective strategies. Attendees have the opportunity to share challenges, identify common issues, and explore potential solutions together.

• Counting the cost: understanding your ethnicity pay gap

  📍 Room 3B
  
  Gain insights on how healthcare providers are addressing the ethnicity pay gap in the NHS. This panel discussion explores the gap's impact on staff morale, quality of patient care and potential legal risks for NHS organisations. Combining Hempsons' legal expertise with insights from senior NHS HR and equality leaders, this session provides practical tools to help you develop people-centred, legally sound strategies for reducing the ethnicity pay gap in your organisation.  
  

  (supported by Hempsons)

• Leading an improvement culture: people-powered improvement cultures

  📍 Room 1C
  
  Explore how different relational aspects of leadership can drive an improvement culture with people at the heart of it. You'll hear from trust and national leaders on different approaches they've adopted and the impact each has had. 

13:10 Exhibition viewing, lunch and networking (Exhibition Hall)

16:10Plenary 3

• Keynote speech from NHS England chief executive, Amanda Pritchard

  📍 Auditorium
  
  A chance to hear from NHS England's chief executive about the key priorities for the NHS provider sector.  

16:50Plenary 4

• For the next generation and beyond: realising the potential of artificial intelligence in the NHS

  📍 Auditorium 
  
  A future-focused session that explores the extent to which artificial intelligence (AI) will disrupt healthcare. We'll discuss how the NHS can maximise opportunities and mitigate the challenges AI presents in delivering sustainable, high-quality healthcare for the next generation and beyond. 

08:00Breakfast session

• Shifting the dial on child health: how healthcare systems are tackling inequalities through social determinants of health

  📍 Theatre C
  
  Learn about the work of the Child Health Equity Collaborative, a unique partnership between Barnardo's, the Institute for Health Equity and three Integrated Care Systems (ICSs): Birmingham and Solihull, Cheshire and Merseyside, and South Yorkshire. ICS leads will share their vision, experiences, and the role of young people in shaping the programme. Discover the interventions designed to address the social determinants of health and improve health, wellbeing, and equity of children and young people.

  (supported by Barnardo's)

09:00Conference day two

• Welcome to day two

  📍Auditorium 
  
  Sathnam Sanghera, bestselling historian, acclaimed broadcaster, author and journalist will open the second day of the conference.

09:05Plenary 5

• Keynote speech from Nicky Moffat, former British army brigadier and leadership development consultant

  📍 Auditorium
  
  Gain insights from Nicky, who, after a 27-year military career and becoming the highest-ranking woman in 2009, now helps organisations build leadership capabilities and sustainable cultural improvements. Nicky will discuss the key leadership challenges facing NHS provider organisations and share practical strategies for embedding transformative change. 

09:40Plenary 6

• Improving patient safety: learning from the past to shape the future

  📍 Auditorium
  
  Using lessons from NHS inquiries and insights from other sectors, this session explores how the NHS can overcome deep-rooted cultural challenges to transform culture and drive lasting improvements in patient safety, both now and in the future. 

10:25Plenary 7

• Keynote speech from Rt. Hon Wes Streeting MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

  📍 Auditorium 

  One of the first opportunities to hear from the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. Rt. Hon Wes Streeting MP will share his priorities and vision for the NHS at what is a pivotal time for the service.

11:10Delivering with partners 4

• How NHS Open Space can help tackle vacant space within the NHS

  📍 Theatre A 

  Learn how NHS Open Space, launched by NHS Property Services in 2019, is addressing vacant and underutilised space across the NHS estate. This session explores how the combination of utilisation monitoring, booking platform, data and analytics has improved space management. Discover how these tools can help you gain a clear view of your portfolio while tackling vacant and underutilised space within your own NHS estate. 

  (supported by NHS Open Space)

• Putting data to work: how to support innovation and improvement while protecting privacy

  📍 Theatre B  

  Examine the complexities of using AI-driven technologies based on information from patient records. We'll explore key challenges such as balancing innovation with patient confidentiality, navigating regulatory requirements, and addressing ethical considerations. Additionally, the session will cover recent developments, barriers, common pitfalls, and provide insights for future improvements in this evolving field.

  (supported by Hempsons)

• Delivering the benefits of a neighbourhood-based NHS

  📍 Theatre C 

  Explore how neighbourhood teams can be designed to meet the holistic needs of local populations, shaping the care and support services they require. This session focuses on building effective, collaborative teams that build trust and evolve together. An expert panel share first-hand experience in delivering this model.   

  (supported by National Association of Primary Care – NAPC)

11:50 Breakout sessions – Sustaining the next generation NHS

• Sustaining the NHS: how trusts and system partners are driving radical and sustainable reform

  📍 Room 3A
  
  Explore the strategic enablers necessary for successful integration with system partners. This session will discuss how to meaningfully address barriers to integration, to provide holistic care to individuals with multiple health, care and social needs. 

• Developing a roadmap for the future: 10-year health plan

  📍 Room 3B
  
  Discuss the 10-year health plan and what model of change is needed to build an NHS fit for the future, in this session led by Sally Warren, director general of the Department of Health and Social Care.

• Improving value for money through a whole system approach to productivity

  📍 Room 1C
  
  Join trust leaders, system partners and policy experts to discuss how the NHS can deliver value for patients by adopting a whole-system approach to improving productivity.  

13:50Plenary 8

• Shaping better services for the next generation

  📍 Auditorium 
  
  Discover how trusts and wider system partners can improve the physical and mental health of the next generation. In this session, we'll explore the patient perspective, the challenges of rising demand and waiting times for NHS children and young people's services, and how trusts can work with partners to tackle health inequalities and improve access to care.  

14:45Plenary 9

• Introduction to new NHS Providers chair

  📍Auditorium
  
  Join us to welcome the new chair of NHS Providers.

12:50Exhibition viewing, lunch and networking (Exhibition Hall)